One Step and a Nightmare
by Unjax
Summary: Blake has a dark past, one she would ill like to remember. Every night though, the dreams remind her. By herself, there's no way she could ever survive the constant torture of her own mind, but, just maybe, with the help of another, she might.


Cool wind whispered against her ivory skin and crystalline drops fell from the sky, breaking against her, raising goosebumps on the soft flesh. Her fingertips ghosted over the bumps, feeling the damp terrain to make sure it was real, but ever so tentatively. Almost as if she wished this were still the dream, because then, maybe it could stay perfect.

A step in front of her was the edge of the roof, with her teetering so precariously right next to it. One step was all it would take, and though she knew she never would, there was some part of her that urged her to take the step, make the fall. She always felt like that, as if any particularly strong breeze or a single thought could send her falling, plummeting to the past or back to them. To _him_.

She could almost hear a soft chuckle in the breeze, beckoning her back, echoing from her sleep.

The trees below rustled slightly in the midnight storm, visible thanks to her sensitive eyes. Her amber gaze studied every slight detail as if questioning its existence. But the world around her was inarguably real. Her ears twitched as they picked up the slight pitter-patter of the rain on the ground far below her as easily as that which landed next to her. She could hear the eddies of air as they blew by her, and the soft knocking of branches hitting each other in the courtyard below. She could sense Beacon, every bit of it, and she knew it was safe.

He couldn't hurt her here. Not anymore.

But she could see his face, that cold almost marble quality of it, as if it were some crude etching - an imitation of life. Breathing, thinking, but without any emotion. She could see it in vivid detail, every pore of his skin seared into her memory for eternity, and she knew she could never escape it. She could do as she was now, hiding and running from sleep, avoiding the possibility of her dreams, her nightmares, but eventually she would have to face him again.

She would never do it, but one step could take it away.

A metallic click and then the sound of rusty hinges creaking in that subtly squealing way they do. Blake knew who it would be. The newcomer cared, it was what she did. Naturally, the one that cared and the one that was broken found each other.

"Nightmares again?" The voice lilted slightly, as if each word were a song of its own accord, the two put together a soft, calming melody. Blake closed her eyes, felt immediately more at ease. Her shoulders slackened slightly, though they would always hold tension.

"Yes," She didn't add anything else. She didn't need to.

Two warm arms slid around her waist, and Blake eased into them, falling back slightly. Just enough to let her companion know that she was trusted. She was likely the only one that Blake could trust fully and completely.

The smell of juniper overwhelmed her senses, flooding her system, and she breathed in the aromatic drug of the newcomer's presence. She twisted around, not opening her eyes quite yet, burying herself in the crook of her girlfriend's neck. She let herself stay that way for a moment. Despite the rain and the cutting wind, she felt safe there, skin that always held a tropical temperature warming her own previously chilled flesh.

She let herself drift back into the dream this time. Not the nightmare, but the dream.

And then she opened her eyes.

The image was almost the same. The long scarlet hair fell in silky locks down Pyrrha's back, a small strand tickling the inside of her neck. Her sculpted face, toned and defined, but still soft and graceful, smiled slightly down at Blake, those liquid emerald pools offering a solace that was unmatched and never could be. She was the only one who could exist for Blake.

Blake pressed herself against Pyrrha once more, feeling their powerful bodies move so gently, precariously against one another in the embrace. Pyrrha's hand slid to Blake's hair, cupping her head, and holding her tight. It had taken a long time for Pyrrha to find that sort of intimacy with Blake - those moments of slight gestures that mean the world - but when she had realized what it did for Blake, she had allowed them to happen naturally. Blake was happy that she had started to. It was one of the only things that kept her really alive.

"We should go inside. You need your sleep Blake." Pyrrha urged, but it was out of concern, not control. Not like _him_.

"I can't sleep anymore." She deadpanned in reply. "I just can't face it."

"You've dreamt of him every night this week?" Blake shook her head.

"Almost. One night I didn't."

"Did you dream?" Blake nodded in response. "What about?"

Blake wondered if she could say. Was it too soon? She knew how she felt, but she didn't know what Pyrrha thought. Pyrrha was beautiful, perfect in so many ways. She had flaws, of course, but that was a part of it. Blake knew that Pyrrha's flaws weren't flaws at all; they were just a part of who she was. She couldn't classify Pyrrha's attributes into good and bad, annoying and fun, flawed and not. They were just aspects that culminated in the woman standing before her. She was just Pyrrha, and there was only one thing that Blake could feel about her.

But Blake wasn't like Pyrrha. She could never accept herself the way she did her girlfriend. She was a monster. She had done terrible things. Blake didn't have flaws, she had evils; things so ethically and morally twisted and wrong that they could never be forgiven. She wanted to redeem herself, she wanted to be a huntress, she wanted to be the kind of woman that Pyrrha could be with, that her girlfriend _deserved_ ; Blake knew that it wasn't her though. The question of who she was could never be posed because it was inaccurate. It was a matter of _what_ she was, and even her subconscious mind knew the answer. It tortured her with the memories every single night. Of him, what he did to her, and what she did of her own accord. Because he was never anything more than a guide - a mentor - and he could never have taught her to be who she had become with him. That had come from her, some deep, dark, black pit in her heart.

She was a mangled and ruined creature. A monster, worse than the Grimm; they at least didn't understand how what they were doing was wrong. She had, and she had done it anyways. Day, after day, after day.

Yet, there was one spark in her life. One hope that kept the demons of her mind at bay during long, cold, sleepless nights. It was that dream. It happened every once in a while, not nearly as often as the nightmares of what had actually happened, but enough to remember.

It was a simple dream, and distant and intangible as a result. When it happened, it was just a few small details. It was short and sharp, but beautifully defined. In it, Pyrrha was standing in front of her, their hands held between them as lovers are meant to do. There was a forest of glimmering leaves and golden wood behind her, radiant in the shining beams of liquid sun falling from the heavens. Pyrrha's eyes were the same, those glinting gems that held so much hope, beauty and trust in them, but what she was wearing was different.

It was a white dress, laced around the shoulders and flowing elegantly into a pearlescent bottom that hugged her shapely legs tightly, cutting off just below the knees. As she toyed with the redhead's fingers, she could feel a cool band of golden metal wrapped around her fourth finger. Pyrrha smiled at her, as radiantly beautiful and pure as a field of roses. Blake knew what it meant, but whenever she awoke, it left her dazzled and confused. It was just a dream; she knew she could never have that. She didn't deserve to be that happy, to have a day like that.

But it was still a hope.

"Blake?" She realized she had drifted off, lost in the only false memory that could overpower the real ones.

"Yes?" It was quiet, tentative. The opposite of how she tended to present herself.

"What was the dream about? You know you can tell me." Blake wasn't so sure. They had only been dating a month officially, but Blake already knew what she felt. Pure, unquestionable, unconditional love. It filled her every time she saw Pyrrha, made the tilted and skewed world straight for an instant. Each touch was an electric shock that exhilarated her entire system. And a kiss would send her entire body tingling for minutes after the brief contact.

She loved Pyrrha.

But after only a month, how could one confess such profound feelings? Especially when she didn't deserve the relationship in the slightest. If Pyrrha reciprocated, then Blake was guilty of allowing a love that shouldn't ever exist. And if Pyrrha didn't love Blake back...

Well, it was one quick step into the embrace of the demon that would always accept her. She knew that no matter what she did, she could always have him. If he was the only one that could accept her…

Why wouldn't she go back?

"It was about you." Blake murmured, half hoping it had been quiet enough that Pyrrha wouldn't hear. There was a slight tightening around her, and Blake knew that Pyrrha had heard the words. "It's just us, in a meadow, surrounded by trees and it's beautiful and you are too and..." She drifted off, not sure of how to continue.

The soft skin of lips saved Blake from completing the thought, and her mind emptied, going numb. She recovered from the shock and pressed back into Pyrrha. Her heart raced and lightning flashed through her body as adrenaline surged through her system, heightening her senses and sharpening her mind. She could feel the slight, soft ridges of Pyrrha's lips, the pores of her skin where Blake desperately pressed against her, clinging to her like a drowning victim might a life boat. Pyrrha was her salvation.

"It's okay," Pyrrha said, breaking away. "You don't have to say now."

"I should though. I- You need to know. I don't know how you feel about me - us I mean. But Pyrrha, I..." Her courage failed her, and Blake turned away, fighting back the irrational fear sending adrenaline through her system, shattering her resolve. The world felt wobbly underneath her, and she wanted to keel to the side. This was it. If she said those three words, this was it. It could be the end of everything, or the beginning. Three words that had been repeated countless times over eons. Some false, some real, some beginning lives that would last years, inseparable bonds. Some would end tragically, lives were built and razed on those three words. Words which had started wars, motivated murder and thievery, but also inspired acts of complete selflessness. Blake knew she would not be the first to utter those words. She had read entire books that lead up to them, but she felt that there may never have been a proclamation so weighted as her own. Because this was her everything. Her entire life. Three words, and one step.

"I love you." The words tumbled out of their own accord, betraying her stalling mind. As if by their own volition, they entered the world, and now the choice would be Pyrrha's.

But her reaction didn't seem like a choice. It was just a smile, and then juniper wafted around Blake once more. It was instantaneous, as if there were no decision at all. It was just what had to happen.

"I love you too Blake." And Pyrrha held her tightly, somehow sensing that this meant so much more to Blake than she could ever express in words.

Because Pyrrha loved her.

And that's all that would ever matter.

So Blake just stood on the roof, embracing the woman who meant the world to her as the rain slowly soaked them both to the bone. Neither of them cared though, because the moment was so much more powerful than any amount of rain or snow or wind could ever be. It was a connection completely isolated from the physical world, one that existed only in the minds of the two, and as such it could never be broken.

Blake smiled, and took another step away from the edge of the roof, from her demons, and from her past, pressing closer to her girlfriend, her redemption, her future.

* * *

 **I fixed my computer! That was getting worrying for a minute. Quick one shot of Blake and Pyrrha, something I never thought I'd write. But, of course, to get better you have to push your comfort zone. This wasn't easy, but I think it worked out all right. For the first time I feel I kind of had to fabricate the relationship... Hopefully it worked! Let me know what you think.**

 **-Unjax**


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